Brad Gillis
I first met Brad Gillis back in 1982 right after he joined up with Ozzy replacing Randy Rhoads. I was involved with the sound company and I got to go backstage and meet Ozzy and the rest of the band. I had been a Randy Rhoads fan and at the time I hadn't heard of Brad but I did recognize his amazing talent. Several months later when MTV was in it's infancy I saw Brad playing in "Night Ranger" and a lifetime fan was born. In fact "Don't tell me you love me" is one of my top 10 all time favorite songs.
Several years later I again ran into Brad Backstage at a Van Halen/Sam Kinnison/Billy Idol/Bon Jovi Jam. I was doing security for the promoter and it was my job to decide who got in and who didn't. Naturally Brad got in.
I can still remember where I was when I first heard "You can still rock in America" I was riding down the highway at about 70 MPH on Interstate 95 in Las Vegas with several other Harleys sometime in the mid 80's and this song comes on the radio. All of us had radios on the bikes and all of us were on the same station blasting the tunes. Try to imagine that song blasting at ear piercing levels together with the sound of 3 other Harleys. It had a life altering effect on me.
Now that I am building a custom Pearlcaster for Brad to his exact specs is a magical experience for me.
Ed Roman
Brad Gillis Playing his Pearlcaster 02/11/2005
Click to Enlarge
Wireless Pearlcaster
Finished Pearlcaster Guitar With Original Floyd #6
Actually Brad had us change the neck to an all graphite Stealth model
Brad is extremely picky and he spent countless hours in our shop while Rod worked on his guitar.
Brad intends to use this guitar as his main guitar so of course we allowed Brad the full run of our shop.
rad Gillis is best known
for his role as half the dynamic guitar duo of the chart-topping band
Night Ranger. Since Night Ranger's first release in 1982, Brad's mastery
of the strings and whammy bar have helped lead this rocking AOR band to
the top of the charts and multi-platinum sales around the world. Brad
himself has almost twenty gold and platinum albums to his name. Having
appeared in over a dozen MTV and VH1 music videos, Brad is one of the few
guitar icons of our time that can undoubtedly be recognized by both his
aggressively unique sound and image. His first solo album Gilrock Ranch
produced the top twenty AOR single, "Honest to God," co-written and sung
by the legendary Gregg Allman. Since it's release in 1993, Gilrock Ranch
has become a benchmark for guitar virtuosos in all walks of the music
world. His latest release, Alligator, is bound
for even greater success.
At the same time Night Ranger was gaining public interest,
heavy metal god Ozzy Osbourne recognized the talent in Brad and asked him
to supplant Randy Rhoads in his ongoing tour. For the next year, Brad
spread himself between the Osbourne sensation and the Night Ranger effort,
and can be heard on lead guitar on Osbourne's Speak of the Devil live
album. When Night Ranger began to take off, Gillis had the difficult task
of choosing one path over the other. Luckily, for music fans everywhere,
Night Ranger was blessed with the Gillis technique.
The reborn
Night Ranger trio tantalized the world with their larger than life sound
and stage presence, touring for three years solid. Feeding Off the Mojo,
released in 1995, breathed new life into what had been labeled a '80s
band. Riding the wave of energy created from this release the original
five member line-up reformed and Brad released two more albums with them,
Neverland (1997) and Seven (1998). Brad toured with the band in support of
each album, and spent the summer of 1999 headlining the Rock Never Stops
Tour with Ted Nugent and supporting bands Quiet Riot and Slaughter.
